Above: Cass Street looking South from Juneau Avenue, c. turn or the century.(Courtesy or Milwaukee Public Library)park features a recreation of Juneau's cobin (erected 1946), a statue of Juneau (1887) sculpted byRichard H. Pork and donated by shoe manufacturers Brodley and Metcalf, and a statue of Leif Erickson(1 B87) by sculptor Anne Whitney donated by LucyAllisGilbert.eUniversity Club, 924 E. Wells SI. (1926-1927) Architect: John Russell Pope, New York. The

University Club was incorporoted in 1898 to cultivate interest in the sciences and liberol arts andto provide a place where college, university, and military ocodemy graduates could congregate socially.John Russell Pope, a notionally known architect from New York, designed this home for the club in thedignified Georgian Revival style. The red brick, 2-story-tolilimestone pilasters, c1ossicolcornice, andmulti-paned windows are chorocteristic of the Georgian style.

ED Cudahy Tower, 925 E. Wells SI. (1928-1929) Architect: Holabird & Root, Chicago. BuenoVista Flats, 777 N. Prospect Ave. and 920 E. Mason SI. (1908-1909) Architect: Ferry and Clos.

The gleaming white terra cotto facades of these buildings have long been lokefront landmarks. Thelow, rombling Bueno Vista Flats, at the south end of the complex, was built as a luxury apartmenthouse by millionaire meotpocker Patrick Cudahy, after whom Cudahy, Wisconsin is named. Cudahy'sestate erected the 16-story Cudahy Tower Apartments twenty years later. The tower's toll hip roof andlantern ore visible from many ports of downtown.

Milo P. Jewett House, 800 N. Morsholl St. (e 1872). HPC.Vassar College founder andpresident Milo P. Jewett was one of Milwaukee's most distinguished residents. A notionally

known educator and proponent of higher education for women, Jewett served as president of theMilwaukee Female College and as regent for the University of Wiscosnin. He also ron a profitablewholesale coffee and spice business with his portner, William Sherman. Jewett's handsome Itolianatestyle house features a circular gable windaw, or oculus, which is embellished with carved rape moldingand leaves.

Cityof

MihvaukeePublished by City or Milwaukee Department or City Development

reprinted June, 1995

Mi[Wc811UlJkeeHistoric Buildings Tour

Above: Diederichs-fltch House, 1241 North Franklin Place(Photographer Paul JakUbovich)Front cover: 1200 block North Marshall Street, looking South,c. World War 1. (Courtesy or Milwaukee Public Museum)

Brochures in this series include:Avenues WestBayViewJuneautown: The Heart 01 Old MilwaukeeJuneautown: Preservation, Revitalization and Adaptive

ReuseKilbourntownNorth Point NeighborhoodWalker's Point: Residential TourWalker's Point: Commercial and Industrial Buildings TourWest End

Key to symbols:NR National Register of Historic PlacesML Milwaukee LandmarkHPC Designated by the Historic Preservation

Commission of Milwaukee, successor to theMilwaukee Landmarks Commission

The original production or this tour pamphlet was financed in part withFederal funds rrom the National Park Service, U.S. Department or theInterior, and received assistance from the State Historical Society orWisconsin. This printing was made possible by contributions rrom theLynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc. and the City or MilwaukeeCommunity Development Block Grant Program.

A self-guidedwalking toUI'of histol'icbuildings inthe Yankee Hillneighbol'hood

Yankee Hill tourYankee Hill was early Milwaukee's premier residential neighborhood. The high ground east ofthe Milwaukee River had originally been owned by fur trader Solomon Juneau. With the com-ing of white settlers in the 18305, Juneau's land quickly became the seat of government,finance, and business in the new town of Milwaukee. The pioneers who settled this port ofMilwaukee were predominantly from New England and New York and this section soon wasknown as "Yankee Hill" or "Yankeeburg," as the Germans called it.

Yankee Hill is characterized by regular, rectangular blocks laid oul in a grid fashion bySolomon Juneau in 1835. The street names reflect early American presidents (Jefferson,Jackson, Van Buren) as well as Milwaukee pioneers (Juneau, Knapp and Ogden) and othernationally prominent individuals of the day (Cass, Marshall, Astor, Franklin).

Yankee Hill originally encompassed nearly 40 blocks between Jefferson Street, WisconsinAvenue, Ogden Avenue and Lake Michigan. Development began early and the first housestended to be simple frame structures, although some brick dwellings hod been built by the late1840s. While all traces of the very earliest frame houses hove disappeared, there are threebrick houses that at least partially dote from the 18505: the James S. Brown double house(1852) ot 1122-24 N. Astor Street, part of the Hole-Cory-Hansen house (1853) at 1227-37

I North Cass Street and part of the William Metcalf house (1854) at 1219 N. Cass Street.

Despite the preponderonce of Yankees living in the area, Milwaukee's growing German-American population was represented here as well by such individuals as John Dietrich Inbusch,Herman Berger, Christian Preusser, Edward Diederichs, and John William Bielfeld. Bielfeld notonly lived in the area but also had his business there. He opened a German-style outdoor beergarden on the site of today's 1019-43 East Ogden Avenue in 1850, and it remained in opera-tion into the 1880s. In its heyday the property included a concert and dance hall, a bowlingalley and a saloon.

The neighborhood reached its peak of development in the 1870s and 18805 as the remainingvacant parcels were built upon. The open, spacious character of many of the streets changed asearly houses were pulled down and their large lots subdivided into smaller parcels. Cass, Astor,Marshall and State Streets and Kilbourn and Juneau Avenues became prestigious residentialstreets. Numerous prominent individuals resided here including businessmen and industriolists,financiers, and professionals. Construction tapered off in the 1890s as the neighborhoodbecame completely built-up.

Milwaukee's growing population and the spread of the downtown commercial area north andeastward into Yankee Hill put pressure on the neighborhood for more intensive land use by theturn of the century. Apartment living was becoming socially acceptable, and gradually apart-ment buildings began replacing the old single-family houses. The zenith of opartment buildingconstruction occurred in the 1920s when tall luxury apartment hotels like the Astor and theKnickerbocker were built. The onset of the Great Depression halted apartment construction inthe neighborhood sporing many old houses from demolition, but in 1941 dozens of fine oldresidences were razed to permit the widening of Kilbourn Avenue into a boulevard.

The greatest changes to the neighborhood have taken place since the 19605. A large scaleurban renewal project leveled everything west of Van Buren Street and north of KilbournAvenue. 8etween Ogden and Lyon Streets all of the buildings were rozed for a proposed free-way spur that was never built. The spot demolition of numerous old houses to make way forparking lots ond new buildings has also taken a heavy toll on the housing stock.

Today, 0 much smaller Yankee Hill survives in the 18 blocks between Wells Street ond OgdenAvenue and Van Buren Street and Prospect Avenue. In spite of the demolition that has occurredsince World War II, the surviving buildings in Yankee Hill form a virtual catalogue of 19th cen-

I tury architectural styles illustrating the Federal, Greek Revival, Victorian Gothic, Italianate,Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne, Chateauesque, Colonial Revival, and Tudor Revival styles.

o Cathedral Park, bounded by Wells St., Kilbourn Ave., Jefferson and Jackson Sts. Cily founderSolomon Juneau and his portner, Morgan L. Mor~n, donated this squore for public purposes in

1835 when Juneautown was first plotted. Between 1836 and 1939, the pork was known osCourthouse Squore because the County's first courthouse (1836) and its replacement (1872) werelocated at the aorth end of the grounds. Since the razing of the second caurthouse in 1939,the grounds have been known as Cathedral Park for St. John's Cathedral which fronts the parkalong N. Jackson St.

• Sf. John's Cathedral, 812 N. Jackson 5t. (1847-53) Architect: Victor Schulte. NR, ML.St. John's is Wisconsin's oldest Cathedral and the seat of the Diocese of Milwaukee. Bishop

John Martin Henni solicited funds fram as for away as Europe, Mexica and Cuba to construct thechurch, and it took six yeors to complete. Its designer, German born Victor Schulte, was one ofMilwaukee's first orchitects. St. John's original tower was replaced by the current Neo-Baroque one in1892-93. The Cathedral complex has grawn to cover its entire city block and includes a high school,gymnasium, rectory, canvent and a caretaker's house.

• Wisconsin ScoNish Rite Cathedral/The Wisconsin Consistory, 790 N. Van Buren St.,705-13 E. Wells St. (1889) Architect: Edward Townsend Mix; (1936-37) Architect:

Herbert W. Tullgren. The unique Art Deco sly Ie limestone facade hides what was once a RichordsonianRomonesque slyle church built for Plymouth Congregational Church in 1889. When Plymouth Churchmoved, the ScoNish Rite Masons purchased the building for their clubhouse in 1912. Consistorymember and noted commercial architect Herbert W. Tullgren remodeled this building to its presentform in 1936. Only the rock-face foundo~on stones remain from the earlier church. Tullgren's slylizedemblems of the Scottish Rite Masons, including knights, monks, bishops, and eagles, ornamentthe exterior.

• Cass/Wells Historic District, 712 thru 726 East Wells and 801 thru 823 N. Cass St. NR, HPC.ThiS cluster of eight structures comprises the Coss/Wells Street Notional Register Historic District.

Represented ore examples of Italianote (718 E. Wells, built in 1874, Charles Gombert architect),Queen Anne (712 E. Wells, built c. 1892 and 815 N. Cass, built in 1896), and Colonial Revival(823 N. Coss, built in 1904, Ferry and C10sarchitects).

The Italionote structure at 801-805 N. Cass St., today used as a restaurant, has hod a colorlul andnotariaus post. 8uilt in 1874 as a residence, the house used to stand at 788 N. Jefferson St. and wasthe scene of the sensa~onal murder of its original owner, Dr. John Gomer. Bridget Hutchinson, aresident at this corner since 1850, later acquired the house and moved it here in 1895. The first 1I00rhas been used for commercial purposes for many years.

Womon's Club of Wisconsin/Atheneum, 813 East Kilbourn Avenue (1887) Architect: GeorgeBowman Ferry; East Addition, 1896. NR, ML. Populorly called the Atheneum, this Victorian

Gothic style structure was built in 1887 for the Woman's Club of Wisconsin which had been foundedin October of 1876. The thirty charter members were drawn from same of the city's most prominentfamilies. The decidedly independent women formed a stock company to pay for the construction ofthis clubhouse. It is credited as the first stockholding company in the country managed exclusively bywomen. The building, which houses dining facilities, offices and meeting rooms, is still occupied bythe Woman's Club.

e Robert Potrick Fitzgerald House/College Women's Clob, 1119 N. Marshall St. (1874)Architect: Edward Townsend Mix. ML, HPC. Self·made man Robert Patrick Fitzgerald made his

fortune running a morine vessel brokerage and morine iasurance business, and later invested inschooner and steamer construction and management. Fitzgerald commissioned prominent architectEdword Townsend Mix to design his imposing $20,000 residence in the fashionable Italianate slyle.The richly carved brackets, moldings and columned portico were symbols of good taste and uppermiddlecloss respectability at the period.

• All Soints Episcopol Cathedral Complex, 800 black E. Juneau Ave.; Church (1868-69)Architect: E. T. Mix; Guild Hall and Cathedral Institute (1891) Architect: W. D. Kimball; Bishop's

House (1902) Architect: Kirchhoff & Rose. NR, ML, HPC. The financially troubled Olivet CongregationalChurch was forced to sell this virtually brand new Gothic Revival church building to All Saints EpislOpol

in 1873. All Saints, established in 1847,became the seat of the Episcopal Dioceseafter acquiring this structure, and isbelieved to have been the first EpiscopalCathedral established in the u.S. Theadjacent Guild Holland Cathedral Institute(816-18 E. Juneau) and Bishop'sResidence (804 E. Juneau) replacedearlier frame structures. Chemicol cleaningof the buildings' exteriors has revealedthe ariginal color of the distinctive locallyproduced cream colored brick.

• John Dietrich Inbusch House,V 1135 N. Cass St. (1874) Architect:Leonard A. Schmidtner. NR. John D.Inbusch, a successful wholesale grocer,bonk officer and insurance director, wasone of only a small number of Germans tolive in this predominantly Anglo-Saxonneighborhood. Pioneer orchitect LeonordA. Schmidtner designed this costly housefor Inbusch in the Italianate slyle. TheInbusch house is notable for the lavishcarved wood ornament at the windowsand far the elaborate brackets with swagsat the cornice.

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Revival style income property on the siteof his family homestead and actuallylived in the westernmost unit from1907 until his death in 1915. Finecraftsmanship is exhibited in thecarvings araund the circular windows ofthe third story and the second storyplaques located above the entrances.The four townhouses have since beenconverted to aportments.

• First Unitarian Church, 1342N. Cass St. and 1009 E. Ogden

Ave. (1891-92) Architect: Ferry & Clas.NR, ML, HPC. The First Unitarian Church,organized in 1843, built this finestructure in 1891. Prominent localarchitects Ferry & C1as based theirsedate and schalorly rendition of theGothic Revival on the medieval parishchurches of England. Gifted localraftsman Frank Steven embellished theexterior with numerous corvedornaments such as the face in the centerof the west facade which is said torepresent prominent benefactor andchurch member William H. Metcalf.eAbbol Row, 1019-43 E. Ogden

Ave. (1889) Architect: HowlandRussel. NR, HPC. Once the site of apopular outdoor beer garden called8ielfeld's Garden, Abbot Raw was builtin 1889 as on income property forWisconsin Central Railroad officerEdwin Hole Abbot. Locol society orchitectHowland Russel disguised the repetitivedesign of the ten identical townhousesby varying the placement of the gables,dormers, bays, oriel windows, andshingled surlaces to create a picturesque

facade. The building's architectural integrity has been maintained thraugh cooperative ownership since1924, making it possibly the state's oldest co-op.eBloodgood-Hawley Double House, 1135-39 E. Knopp St. and 1249 N. Franklin PI. (1896)

Architect: Howland Russel. NR, ML, HPC. ThiS rare Milwaukee example of the Chateauesque orFrench Gothic slyle was built as a double house for Attorney Francis Bloodgood, Jr. and his wife'saunt, Mary B. Hawley. The terlO cotto plaque over the Knopp St. entrance bears the initials of theBloodgood and Hawley families.

Diederichs-Fitch House, 1241 N. Franklin PI. (c.1855) Architect: Mygatt & Schmidtner;2nd story (1895) Architect: Howland Russel. NR, ML, HPC.

The recent replacement of the long·missing recumbent lions has restored the most notable architecturalfeature to what has long been known as the Lion House. German immigrant and entrepreneurEdword Diederichs built this house in the mid-1850s to resemble the classically· inspired villas heknew in Europe.

1ST

E. KILBOURN AVE.

• Summerfield United MethodistChurch, 728 E. Juneau Ave.

(1904) Architect: Turnbull & Jones,Chicago. NR. William Metcolf House,1219 N. Coss St. (1854, 1870, 1876)NR. Although now hidden away behindSummerlield Methodist Church, the once-elegant mansion of pioneer boot and shoemanufacturer William Metcolf used tofrant onto Juneau Ave. Metcalf remodeledhis small, simple, 1854 Greek Revivalhouse into on Italionate villa in the1870s, complete with tower, braad frontporch, and red sandstone quoins. Metcalf died in 1892, and his widow occupied the house until 1B97,

Summerlield Methodist Church, organized in 1852, subsequently acquired the Metcalf mansion andmoved it to the bock of the lot in order to build a new church franting on Juneau Ave. Chicogo orchi·tects Turnbull & Jones designed the church in the Gothic Revival slyle. The old Metcalf mansion wasused as a parsonage by Summerlield Church until 1928 and today houses offices.

4D> St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 904 E. Knapp St. (1882-90) Architect: Edward Townsend Mix.NR, ML. Organized in 1838,51. Paul's is Milwaukee's pioneer Episcopal Congregation. Local

orchitect Edward Townsend Mix borrowed heavily from churches designed by the notionally prominentBoston architect H. H. Richardson. The robust red sandstone walls, arched openings and massive towersare characteristic of the Richardsonian Romanesque style. Several of the dazzling stained gloss win-dows were executed by the Louis Comfort Tiffany firm of New York.

• Edward C. Wall Rowhouse, 918-24 E. Knapp St. (1897) Architect: William D. Kimball.Entrepreneur Edward C. Wall, son of pioneer Caleb Woll, built this four-unit, $20,000 Classicol

Francis Hinton Townhouses, 1229-31 N. Prospect Ave. (1879) NR, ML, HPC. This pair of VictorianGothic townhouses would look at horne in Washington, D.C. where the blank side walls of such town-houses were meant to butt up against neighboring structures to form rowhause blocks, but there isnothing else in Milwaukee quite like them. Hinton, a manager at Boy View's Milwaukee Iran Co., hodthis curious pair of houses built as a rental praperty. The dramatic stepped gable on the north half ofthe building, the baldly·corbelled cornice, and the stone lintel cut withfishscale shingle shapes all add visual interest to the picturesque facade .

• Jason Downer House, .1201 N. Prospect Ave. (1874) Architect: Edword Townsend Mix. NR,ML, HPC. Vermont-born ludge and attorney Joson Downer constructed this extraordinary house in

1874 at a cost of about $20,000. Taday's Downer Ave. and the former Milwaukee-Downer College(now part of Lawrence University) ore named after him. This wonderful house is the cily's premierexample of Victorian Gothic design. Although the main front porch has been removed, the house hasretained its elaborate, pierced bargebaord trim at the gables, same of its iron cresting, and its highlycarved window hoods.

CD George P. Miller House, 1~60 E. Juneau Ave. (1887) Architect: August Fiedler, Chicogo. NR,ML, HPC. Pioneer Milwaukee s merchant prrnce Timothy A. Chapman spared no expense in

canstructing this house as a wedding present for his daughter, Laura, and her attorney husband,George P. Miller. Chicago architect August Fiedler lavished considerable detail on this jewel box of ahouse, which combines elements of the Romonesque as well as the Queen Anne slyles. The figuredheads above the second story windows are said to be idealized portraits of Laura and George, the orig-inal owners.

G&James S. Peck Hause, 1105 N. Waverly Place (1870), attributed to Edward Townsend Mix.HPC. Grain company executive and investor James Peck built this residence in 1870 on what

was one of the more fashionable streets in Yankee Hill. Redevelopment and the extension of PraspectAvenue have diminished the size of the street and left this as the sale 19th century survivor. TheItalianate house features such finely crafted details as the wonderful arrangement of carved flowers,fruit and leaves enframing the circular attic window. The Classical Revival style porch was added in1912.

I> James S. Brown House, 1122 N. Astor St. (1852). Although once a common building type inthe city, the Federal style double house has all but disappeared. Although there have been many

alterations, this rare survivor still retains its choracteristic parapet end walls and simple rectangulorform. Its first owner, James S. Brown, was a Maine-born lawyer who served in many public offices,including Mayor, while he lived in tile south half between 1856 and 1862.

1l1mmanuel Presbyterian Church, 1100 N. Astor St. (1873) Architect: Edward Townsend Mix.NR, ML. The city's pioneer congregation, First Presbyterian Church (1837), merged with its off·

spring, North Presbyterian Church, to form the Immanuel congregation in 1870. The combined congre-gation commissioned this extravagant church in 1873. Mix's colorlul and highly picturesque VictorianGothic exterior was supposedly inspired by the Gothic architecture of Venice and features archesframed in alternating bands of red and gray sandstone, polished granite columns, and decorative irongrilles screening the entrance porch.

Henry Harrison But10n House, 1024·1026 E. State St. (1875) Architect: EdwardTownsend Mix. Vermont-born Henry Harrison Button was a successful doctor turned wholesale

drug manufacturer, who lavished $30,000 on the construction of this house in lB7 5. The HighVictorian Italianote structure was designed by Edword Townsend Mix and once hod a commanding3-story tower and wraporaund porch, but these were altered in the 1930s. It is still distinguished byexcep~onally high qualily corved brackets and porch posts, and there is a shallow statue niche anthe east wall.

• Juneau Pork, east side of Prospect Ave. between Juneau Ave. and Wisconsin Ave. Thisstunning bluff-top park has been a popular green spot since 1861. Formally designated as a cily

park in 1868, it was enlarged in stages until reaching its present size in 1927. Originally known asSeventh Ward Park, the park was renamed in honor of Solomon Juneau in November of 1885. The